Thank you Hlengiwe! ☺ I'd like to think that permaculture is growing in popularity in South Africa. It honestly is the way of the future, and the sooner people catch onto this way of doing things, the better for us all. I hope to do more educational videos and tours in the future. Thanks for the support!
The most intense Matrix glitch I could ever experience is hearing someone who's not Bantu naming a cat Hlaudi. 🤣🤣🤣🤣😅 It really feeels unreal, but mad cool to experience that. It's really inspiring to see permaculture and foodforests in SA, all the best mate. Cheers
Hey Benjamin! :) Thank you so much for this man. I sincerely appreciate the encouragement. I really will continue trying my best to do so! All the best, Jethro
Lovely work there, Jethro! Very encouraging, and you mentioned a number of plants I've now bookmarked to add to our young urban FF. Also heard you quickly stopping yourself from making an almost-faux-pax of calling bulbine frutescens "bulbinella" (one of my pet peeves, hehe!) 😉 Quick question, if I may? For the most part, we also just let nature do its merry thing in our garden (with the exception of interventions such as bagging up fruit against birds and pumpkin fly). I'm curious what your stance and, if any, methods are regarding fruitfly and false codling moth protection, particularly for the fruit trees. I know our forest is still young and as it develops and diversifies further, things will improve. But thanks to nearby monocropping practices and non-prudent neighbouring home gardeners, we've been able to harvest only approx. 5-10% unstung fruits each season. Stone fruits seem to be the hardest hit (although I must add that my pomme trees haven't yet started fruiting, so I'm not sure if they're also going to be targeted). I get my chickens to scratch around for larva under the trees, and I've recently introduced a few pheromone traps, but the presence is astounding. I reckon the fact that we're a frost-free area doesn't help matters since the cycle is never broken in winter.
Hi there! ☺ Thank you for the message and for your positive words. Our food forest is also still relatively young (about 4 years old); so we have not yet reached the point where our trees fruit in abundance. I think in part it is a timing thing, different bugs have different times when they hatch and are most active. So like with the stone fruits, some of the earlier fruiting trees, their fruit wasn't affected as much, but the later fruiting ones were eaten quite a lot by the chafer beetles and fruit flies. It is a tricky one. Over the years I have collected plenty of bags from when we bought lemons and oranges, and I thought I might try put that over some of the fruit. But honestly, I think one also should focus on fruits and varieties of fruits which seem to do well and aren't targeted too much. I have not tried any organic applications or pesticides, but honestly I would not discount that entirely if it can be useful. I am still learning as I go! ☺
You have such incredible knowledge and amazing energy. I am so inspired to start my own food forest. Would be interesting to know how to incorporate vegetables?
Hi Jaco! Thanks for your words, very much appreciated. I am glad I could offer some inspiration. You can interplant with vegetables anywhere in the forest, but I do hope to do more videos on how to do this to best effect in the future. Thanks for the comment.
Hi Carly! :) Ahhh indeed, what a lovely misty morning it was. And in fact, we are going into the misty season now. It tends to be more misty here in autumn and winter. Thank you kindly for your wishes to support, and you can absolutely do so! We deliver nation wide in South Africa. Head over to plantshopafrica.co.za and you can order anything there that suits your fancy! :) Thank you again for your kindness. Warm regards, Jethro
Hey Brett! :) Thanks a mil man! I really appreciate that hey. Indeed it feels like I'm on the right path. A long path, with lots of learning and challenges, but I know it is right for me! How are things your side? All the best man, Jethro
Hey Michael. What a wonderful message to receive on a Monday morning! ☺ Thank you kindly for taking the time to share your sentiments with me. There are many wonderful food forests around the world but it is nice when it has a special South African feel. I think we have the plants to create a unique style of food forests; especially those resistant to drought and harsh conditions. I'll continue to make videos in the future as it progresses. Feel free to subscribe if you like. Also you can contact me anytime via the website, plantshopafrica.co.za (if you need any advice or to discuss your plans further). Cheers for now! ☺(And thanks again)
Absolutely amazing and so inspiring!!! I am so grateful to find someone here in SA doing it. We are renting but the landlord has a hobby planting fruit trees(probably close to 100now) but it was all planted and maintained in the midstream way, and therefore hardly grows or produces much. We would love to turn it into a permaculture food forest and create systems to provide nutrition to these trees. They barely produce fruit… its so sad. Time time time!!! Id do tonnes if I had more time!
Hi there! Thank you so much for your message. And props to you for your enthusiasm. I honestly believe permaculture is the best way to build soil fertility and ensure higher yields and more resilience to climate fluctuations. Good luck, I'll be posting an update of our farm sometime soonish 😊🏡👍
A very educational and detailed video. You've gained a subscriber. You took me back to my childhood with some of these fruit trees especially uMngwenya, so the tree doesn't necessarily need to be planted by a water stream? How long did it take for the garden to be that rich and green? Did you grow all from seed? I hope my questions aren't too much hahaha Thank you
Hi Nosipho! :) Thank you very much for taking the time to comment and subscribe. Much appreciated! the umgwenya trees are actually quite hardy and definitely don't need to be planted near a stream at all. Of course, more water will help the trees grow faster and bigger, but they are quite versatile from what I have witnessed. This garden has taken 4 years to get to where it is, but honestly, even one season can be enough to establish the beginnings of a forest. Many of the fruit trees I did grow from seed, some I bought some of the fruit trees from nurseries, others I propagated myself from cuttings and via air-layering. The succulents of course I grew from cuttings and these can be found on my website: plantshopafrica.co.za
This is lovely! I'll be copying a lot of what you've done here in Jbay. Can't wait to get rid of all the kikuyu! Eager to hear what pioneers you can suggest to improve the soil! I've started out with a few trees - coral trees, wild plum, fever trees, coastal oaks, indigofera jucunda and just had to plant a yellow wood as well.
Fantastic Marli! :) Glad you are well on your way to creating the green space that you dream of. Thank you also for your order. The support is sincerely appreciated :) - Jethro
Amazing...your food forest is incredibly beautiful and this was so informative. To think that you are just a few kilometres away, it looks like you are in another part of the country (we live in Grahamstown) Well done! 🌳
Amazing! You are most knowledgeable and your energy is tangible. Your food forest is just like Morag Gamble's! Sensibly permaculture. Please allow me a question: How do you control the weeds and grass?
Hi Jethro! :) Great to hear from you. Thanks for the compliments. The positive affirmation goes a long way. Weeding is just one of those things that needs to be done manually. My belief is that if it is done regularly enough, and before the weeds go to seed, then over many years the weeds will reduce in numbers, but I don't think they can ever be completely done away with. In a sense they are there for a reason, nature's wisdom I guess. Many different insects and critters feed on the weeds, and once the other plants that have been deliberately planted are established enough, the weeds will not bother them, in fact, they may even be beneficial. We can also use the weeds that have been pulled out to make compost. I try to pull them before they have gone to seed so as to not spread the seeds in the compost. The one thing I will say though is that weeds can be a menace for groundcovers in particular. I have many succulent groundcovers in my garden and the weeds tend to overgrow them sometimes and then they rot and die. I tend to pay particular attention to weeding around these plants. Grass, I smother it with other grass clippings. In our paths I used a weed eater to beat the grass as low as I could before covering the earth with a think layer of grass and it has killed most of the grass. Thanks for your comment!
Just found your channel. I'm on a small holding in East London. I've got a vegetable/weed garden. I've been trying to rwssurect my dad's veges garden but the grass and weeds have really taken over since he passed away 5 years ago. So in his garden are 2 very old pecon trees, a peach tree, about 8 paw paw trees, 2 fig trees, I've since planted 4 banana trees, 2 lemon trees, macadamia nut tree, mango tree and I've got a couple of raised beds oh and there's a few gooseberry bushes growing wild and cherry tomatoes. So it could be the start of a Food Forest but the long grass and weedy vines that have taken over are so over whelming. I would love to make it into a food forest but I wouldn't know where to from here! What would the next step be?
Man your knowledge amazed me, I know alot already what you showed in your video and I learned alot as well. Tell me do you do any consultation work when it comes to permaculture designing?
Hey Dean ☺ Thanks for the comment. Glad you learn something new, but it's awesome that you already know some of the stuff that I discussed. Yes, I do, I have been helping several people with designing their food forests and gardens, please feel free to contact me. I'd love to discuss how I can possibly help you. You can WhatsApp me on +two seven six six zero seven eight two eight zero nine. I've simply typed it like that so that spammers can't scrape it from the internet, hahaha. Feel free to check out plantshopafrica.co.za as well. I look forward to hearing from you ☺
That's a Beautiful Food Forest! It's very impressive. The sheer variety of plants is incredible. I've got a small holding in JHB sitting idle, and I wish I had the know how to do something like this. Do you know of any training available up here in JHB that could get me started with permaculture or food forests, or even just leasing out the land for something like this?
Hey Jayendren! :) thank you so much for taking the time to share those awesome words! I really appreciate your compliments about our garden. Your smallholding in JHB sounds absolutely awesome! Personally, I have not undergone any official training, nor am I aware of specific courses (or such) in your area. Just start small and build it up. If you would like, I can help guide you with some pioneer plants that would be good starters in your space (and low-to-no maintenance). Drop me a Whatsapp on zero-six-six -zero-seven-eight two-eight-zero-nine if you'd like! I've simply typed the numbers out to avoid spam! Hahaha All the best, Jethro
Wow this is great. I have no experience in agriculture, but I love nature and hope to have a garden like this when I'm older. How is maintaining it though? And how do you go about planning the design and layout?
Hey Kay :) Awesome that you are keen to have a garden like this one day. And no need for agricultural experience or any form of formal education. Just get started, keep learning and watching videos, and you will learn through experimentation and observations. Maintenance includes pruning, weeding, and a few other things, but honestly there is not a huge amount of maintenance that goes into this. I do not irrigate or fertilise at all. I do add compost from time to time when planting new trees, but other than that it's very low maintenance. In terms of planning the design and layout. There is not a huge amount to it. Sometimes people overemphasize the planning phase, but it can help in the long term. You could look at some videos on permaculture design and layout basics. Perhaps I will make a video in the future. Could be fun. Thanks for the comment! - Jethro
Hi Tina ☺ Jethro here. Thank you for the message. We don't currently sell seeds or fruit trees, but those are two lines of business that we are looking into. In the meantime we offer cuttings of succulents and indigenous plants. Thanks for your interest. All the best ☺
Hi Joanne! ☺ Thank you very much for your comment. At the moment we have not had any issues with monkeys or baboons, thankfully. But in this sense I think it is worth researching an area before buying land, to avoid this kind of challenge. However, I'm sure there are ethical ways and means to deter these animals from coming into one's space. It is about establishing clear boundaries, and clear communication with the animals. I am no expert on this though. Perhaps there are other permaculture practitioners out there who have encountered this issue who can help out. I'd do some Googling for sure.
How do you deal with snakes, bats or any unwanted species in your forest? How do you manage the intensity of the growth of the forest in relation to your work or personal life?
Great to see a South African do this
Thank you Hlengiwe! ☺ I'd like to think that permaculture is growing in popularity in South Africa. It honestly is the way of the future, and the sooner people catch onto this way of doing things, the better for us all.
I hope to do more educational videos and tours in the future. Thanks for the support!
You're so knowledgeable and you're doing important work. We need more videos of you in the garden, thoroughly enjoyed this.
Hi Thamsanqa. Thank you kindly for your words! Sincerely appreciated. More videos to come for sure!
Wow
Love the cat's name.....
The most intense Matrix glitch I could ever experience is hearing someone who's not Bantu naming a cat Hlaudi. 🤣🤣🤣🤣😅 It really feeels unreal, but mad cool to experience that. It's really inspiring to see permaculture and foodforests in SA, all the best mate. Cheers
Very informative video my friend. Spread your knowledge all through SA
Hey Benjamin! :) Thank you so much for this man. I sincerely appreciate the encouragement.
I really will continue trying my best to do so!
All the best,
Jethro
Lovely work there, Jethro! Very encouraging, and you mentioned a number of plants I've now bookmarked to add to our young urban FF. Also heard you quickly stopping yourself from making an almost-faux-pax of calling bulbine frutescens "bulbinella" (one of my pet peeves, hehe!) 😉 Quick question, if I may? For the most part, we also just let nature do its merry thing in our garden (with the exception of interventions such as bagging up fruit against birds and pumpkin fly). I'm curious what your stance and, if any, methods are regarding fruitfly and false codling moth protection, particularly for the fruit trees. I know our forest is still young and as it develops and diversifies further, things will improve. But thanks to nearby monocropping practices and non-prudent neighbouring home gardeners, we've been able to harvest only approx. 5-10% unstung fruits each season. Stone fruits seem to be the hardest hit (although I must add that my pomme trees haven't yet started fruiting, so I'm not sure if they're also going to be targeted). I get my chickens to scratch around for larva under the trees, and I've recently introduced a few pheromone traps, but the presence is astounding. I reckon the fact that we're a frost-free area doesn't help matters since the cycle is never broken in winter.
Hi there! ☺ Thank you for the message and for your positive words. Our food forest is also still relatively young (about 4 years old); so we have not yet reached the point where our trees fruit in abundance. I think in part it is a timing thing, different bugs have different times when they hatch and are most active. So like with the stone fruits, some of the earlier fruiting trees, their fruit wasn't affected as much, but the later fruiting ones were eaten quite a lot by the chafer beetles and fruit flies. It is a tricky one. Over the years I have collected plenty of bags from when we bought lemons and oranges, and I thought I might try put that over some of the fruit. But honestly, I think one also should focus on fruits and varieties of fruits which seem to do well and aren't targeted too much. I have not tried any organic applications or pesticides, but honestly I would not discount that entirely if it can be useful. I am still learning as I go! ☺
You have such incredible knowledge and amazing energy. I am so inspired to start my own food forest. Would be interesting to know how to incorporate vegetables?
Hi Jaco! Thanks for your words, very much appreciated. I am glad I could offer some inspiration. You can interplant with vegetables anywhere in the forest, but I do hope to do more videos on how to do this to best effect in the future. Thanks for the comment.
Paradise
Most of the time it feels that way! :) Hahaha, but even paradise has its work and challenges :D Hahaha
Just found your channel. I’d love to see some vids on feature food producing plants/trees.
Hi Marisa ☺ Thank you for your comment! There will certainly be more videos coming in the future!
awesomw. thank you.
Amazing! Love your food forest 😍
Thank you so much. Thanks goes to nature who makes all the magic happen!
What an awesome and educational tour of your beautiful food forest.🥰 Love the kitty too!
Thank you so much Bernadette for the lovely words! I sincerely appreciate it. Glad you enjoy! - Jethro
What a lovely garden! It's so misty too, beautiful. I'd love to support you but I'm in Jhb. Not sure plants would be delverable.
Hi Carly! :) Ahhh indeed, what a lovely misty morning it was. And in fact, we are going into the misty season now. It tends to be more misty here in autumn and winter.
Thank you kindly for your wishes to support, and you can absolutely do so! We deliver nation wide in South Africa.
Head over to plantshopafrica.co.za and you can order anything there that suits your fancy! :)
Thank you again for your kindness.
Warm regards,
Jethro
You really live up to your name. I wonder where you wen to school. You have the true nature of a Bosch boy.
so awesome Jethro, this is a dream!!
Hey Brett! :) Thanks a mil man! I really appreciate that hey. Indeed it feels like I'm on the right path. A long path, with lots of learning and challenges, but I know it is right for me!
How are things your side?
All the best man,
Jethro
@@PlantShopAfrica its been a really great year so far. Working in a rural hospital in the Berg, so loving the adventures and scenery of this area :)
@@brettstevens2303 Brilliant. When you say the Berg, where are you referring to exactly? Geography is not exactly my strong suit 😁
@@PlantShopAfrica the Drakensberg! Staying in a small farming town Winterton. Its wonderful here
@@brettstevens2303 Sounds awesome dude. Gonna give it a quick Google... Ahhh, it looks fricken epiiiic! Enjoy!
It's so beautiful ☺️👍
Wonderful knowledge 💕
Thank you very much. Nature is indeed the most accomplish artist ☺
Glad you found this video informative!
Best food forest video I have ever seen! Bonus that you are in SA! Will be using your insiration in my urban forest!
Hey Michael. What a wonderful message to receive on a Monday morning! ☺ Thank you kindly for taking the time to share your sentiments with me.
There are many wonderful food forests around the world but it is nice when it has a special South African feel. I think we have the plants to create a unique style of food forests; especially those resistant to drought and harsh conditions.
I'll continue to make videos in the future as it progresses.
Feel free to subscribe if you like. Also you can contact me anytime via the website, plantshopafrica.co.za (if you need any advice or to discuss your plans further).
Cheers for now! ☺(And thanks again)
Absolutely amazing and so inspiring!!! I am so grateful to find someone here in SA doing it. We are renting but the landlord has a hobby planting fruit trees(probably close to 100now) but it was all planted and maintained in the midstream way, and therefore hardly grows or produces much. We would love to turn it into a permaculture food forest and create systems to provide nutrition to these trees. They barely produce fruit… its so sad. Time time time!!! Id do tonnes if I had more time!
Hi there! Thank you so much for your message. And props to you for your enthusiasm. I honestly believe permaculture is the best way to build soil fertility and ensure higher yields and more resilience to climate fluctuations. Good luck, I'll be posting an update of our farm sometime soonish 😊🏡👍
A very educational and detailed video. You've gained a subscriber. You took me back to my childhood with some of these fruit trees especially uMngwenya, so the tree doesn't necessarily need to be planted by a water stream? How long did it take for the garden to be that rich and green? Did you grow all from seed? I hope my questions aren't too much hahaha Thank you
Hi Nosipho! :) Thank you very much for taking the time to comment and subscribe. Much appreciated! the umgwenya trees are actually quite hardy and definitely don't need to be planted near a stream at all. Of course, more water will help the trees grow faster and bigger, but they are quite versatile from what I have witnessed. This garden has taken 4 years to get to where it is, but honestly, even one season can be enough to establish the beginnings of a forest. Many of the fruit trees I did grow from seed, some I bought some of the fruit trees from nurseries, others I propagated myself from cuttings and via air-layering. The succulents of course I grew from cuttings and these can be found on my website: plantshopafrica.co.za
This is lovely! I'll be copying a lot of what you've done here in Jbay. Can't wait to get rid of all the kikuyu! Eager to hear what pioneers you can suggest to improve the soil! I've started out with a few trees - coral trees, wild plum, fever trees, coastal oaks, indigofera jucunda and just had to plant a yellow wood as well.
Fantastic Marli! :) Glad you are well on your way to creating the green space that you dream of. Thank you also for your order. The support is sincerely appreciated :) - Jethro
Hey thank you for your video. Stunning garden!
Wow such an informative video !! this has inspired me to further research.
Hi Cheridene ☺ I am so glad that you found it informative. Brilliant, enjoy the learning! You can contact me anytime if you want to chat ideas.
Amazing...your food forest is incredibly beautiful and this was so informative.
To think that you are just a few kilometres away, it looks like you are in another part of the country (we live in Grahamstown)
Well done! 🌳
Amazing! You are most knowledgeable and your energy is tangible. Your food forest is just like Morag Gamble's! Sensibly permaculture. Please allow me a question: How do you control the weeds and grass?
Hi Jethro! :) Great to hear from you. Thanks for the compliments. The positive affirmation goes a long way.
Weeding is just one of those things that needs to be done manually. My belief is that if it is done regularly enough, and before the weeds go to seed, then over many years the weeds will reduce in numbers, but I don't think they can ever be completely done away with. In a sense they are there for a reason, nature's wisdom I guess. Many different insects and critters feed on the weeds, and once the other plants that have been deliberately planted are established enough, the weeds will not bother them, in fact, they may even be beneficial. We can also use the weeds that have been pulled out to make compost. I try to pull them before they have gone to seed so as to not spread the seeds in the compost.
The one thing I will say though is that weeds can be a menace for groundcovers in particular. I have many succulent groundcovers in my garden and the weeds tend to overgrow them sometimes and then they rot and die. I tend to pay particular attention to weeding around these plants.
Grass, I smother it with other grass clippings. In our paths I used a weed eater to beat the grass as low as I could before covering the earth with a think layer of grass and it has killed most of the grass.
Thanks for your comment!
@@PlantShopAfrica Thanks dude, advice much appreciated
@@jethrojackson2524 Anytime. Especially for someone with such a nice name ;) Hahaha
Just found your channel. I'm on a small holding in East London. I've got a vegetable/weed garden. I've been trying to rwssurect my dad's veges garden but the grass and weeds have really taken over since he passed away 5 years ago. So in his garden are 2 very old pecon trees, a peach tree, about 8 paw paw trees, 2 fig trees, I've since planted 4 banana trees, 2 lemon trees, macadamia nut tree, mango tree and I've got a couple of raised beds oh and there's a few gooseberry bushes growing wild and cherry tomatoes. So it could be the start of a Food Forest but the long grass and weedy vines that have taken over are so over whelming. I would love to make it into a food forest but I wouldn't know where to from here! What would the next step be?
Man your knowledge amazed me, I know alot already what you showed in your video and I learned alot as well. Tell me do you do any consultation work when it comes to permaculture designing?
Hey Dean ☺ Thanks for the comment. Glad you learn something new, but it's awesome that you already know some of the stuff that I discussed.
Yes, I do, I have been helping several people with designing their food forests and gardens, please feel free to contact me. I'd love to discuss how I can possibly help you.
You can WhatsApp me on +two seven six six zero seven eight two eight zero nine. I've simply typed it like that so that spammers can't scrape it from the internet, hahaha. Feel free to check out plantshopafrica.co.za as well.
I look forward to hearing from you ☺
That's a Beautiful Food Forest! It's very impressive. The sheer variety of plants is incredible. I've got a small holding in JHB sitting idle, and I wish I had the know how to do something like this. Do you know of any training available up here in JHB that could get me started with permaculture or food forests, or even just leasing out the land for something like this?
Hey Jayendren! :) thank you so much for taking the time to share those awesome words! I really appreciate your compliments about our garden.
Your smallholding in JHB sounds absolutely awesome!
Personally, I have not undergone any official training, nor am I aware of specific courses (or such) in your area.
Just start small and build it up. If you would like, I can help guide you with some pioneer plants that would be good starters in your space (and low-to-no maintenance).
Drop me a Whatsapp on zero-six-six -zero-seven-eight two-eight-zero-nine if you'd like! I've simply typed the numbers out to avoid spam! Hahaha
All the best,
Jethro
Wow this is great. I have no experience in agriculture, but I love nature and hope to have a garden like this when I'm older. How is maintaining it though? And how do you go about planning the design and layout?
Hey Kay :) Awesome that you are keen to have a garden like this one day. And no need for agricultural experience or any form of formal education. Just get started, keep learning and watching videos, and you will learn through experimentation and observations. Maintenance includes pruning, weeding, and a few other things, but honestly there is not a huge amount of maintenance that goes into this. I do not irrigate or fertilise at all. I do add compost from time to time when planting new trees, but other than that it's very low maintenance.
In terms of planning the design and layout. There is not a huge amount to it. Sometimes people overemphasize the planning phase, but it can help in the long term. You could look at some videos on permaculture design and layout basics. Perhaps I will make a video in the future. Could be fun.
Thanks for the comment! - Jethro
Awesome! Do you perhaps sell seeds or plants of the fruit trees you have??
Hi Tina ☺ Jethro here. Thank you for the message. We don't currently sell seeds or fruit trees, but those are two lines of business that we are looking into. In the meantime we offer cuttings of succulents and indigenous plants.
Thanks for your interest.
All the best ☺
Beautiful
Thank you very much Caroline 😊 - Jethro
Thank you so much for this video, very inspiring. I would like to find out though, how do you deal with monkeys?
Hi Joanne! ☺ Thank you very much for your comment. At the moment we have not had any issues with monkeys or baboons, thankfully.
But in this sense I think it is worth researching an area before buying land, to avoid this kind of challenge. However, I'm sure there are ethical ways and means to deter these animals from coming into one's space. It is about establishing clear boundaries, and clear communication with the animals.
I am no expert on this though. Perhaps there are other permaculture practitioners out there who have encountered this issue who can help out. I'd do some Googling for sure.
How do you deal with snakes, bats or any unwanted species in your forest? How do you manage the intensity of the growth of the forest in relation to your work or personal life?
How do you prune Apricot trees so that they do not grow to high?
Where in South Africa are u? Cape region?
It says Grahamstown